Fund the Training of Seminarians in BelarusThursday, February 20, 2014

Project Code: 439-02-79

When the seminary in Grodno in today's Belarus first opened in September of 1990, the Soviet Union was still in existence. By the time Belarus became an independent nation in August of 1991, the Diocese of Grodno had also been established, just a few months earlier. Today, roughly 10% of the population of Belarus is Catholic, while the majority belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.

The seminary in Grodno was set up in a former monastery that had been confiscated by the communists. At that time, sections of the forensic medicine services were still housed in the monastery, and it took 10 years before the entire building could be fully renovated. This made the early days extremely difficult, and initially there was no refectory. But despite the adverse circumstances, the seminary opened its doors, and the first eight priests to pass through it were ordained in 1995.

ACN has proudly supported this seminary from the start, and today 36 young men are preparing there for priestly ordination. Of that number, 25 are currently studying in the seminary, while the others are doing their pastoral year, gaining not only theoretical but also practical knowledge and experience of day to day parish work.

Monsignor Józef Staniewski, the rector of the seminary, is delighted that another 5 young men have entered the seminary this year. He wrote to us, saying, "Dear benefactors, while we share our joy with you, we are also conscious that without your financial support and your prayers we could not achieve what we are doing. We are profoundly grateful to you for your past help and we are confident that you will also support us again this year. We assure you that we continue to bring all your intentions before the Lord and we commend to God’s Merciful Love all those generous-hearted people who continue to support the great works that ACN fulfills.“

This year, once again, he is asking us for help for the 25 young men who are currently studying in the seminary. We have promised him $8,200. Will you help us fulfill this promise to continuing funding the training of seminarians in Belarus? We are sure they will gratefully remember you in their prayers.

Aid to the Church in Need commits to invest your funds where they will have the greatest impact for the Church that we serve. Funds donated to Aid to the Church in Need’s projects will be used towards the greatest need in our programs to help keep the Faith alive.